Ubisoft tries something slightly different ahead of E3

Ubisoft put its flagship Assassin's Creed series to one side at its annual briefing ahead of the E3 video games conference in Los Angeles, instead introducing some fresh new takes on established franchises, as well as the usual updates for its live service games.

The biggest reveal was Watch Dogs Legion, the third game in the series that's essentially Ubisoft's take on Grand Theft Auto, except you're in a near-future smart city and can hack anything with your phone. This time the game's set in a dystopian post-Brexit London, where an authoritarian government and rampant crime repress the populace.

Legion, which is due out in 2020, differs from previous games in that there's no main protagonist. Every person walking around the world is a potential recruit that you can play as, and they all have different skills and personalities.

If one dies, or there's a specific challenge you need to overcome, you move to a different recruit. Even though the game appears to be taking on a bleak tone, gameplay at the briefing showed some levity with multiple older women (one a hacking expert and one a retired assassin) getting in on the foul-mouthed, murderous uprising action.

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The team that put together last year's celebrated Assassin's Creed Odyssey is working on a brand new game for next year, focusing less on historical ancient Greece and more on Greek mythology. Gods & Monsters looks as though it could have been inspired by one of Nintendo's Zelda games, sporting an animated style and a beautiful fantasy setting.

Odyssey itself will continue to be supported after months of frequent content updates, with a new tool that lets players create their own stories and missions — and publish them for the world to play — now live.

The company also dove deep on its upcoming online tactical shooter Ghost Recon Breakpoint, including an appearance from actor Joe Bernthal and the news that you can play the game solo if you like, and it announced a brand new competitive sports game in Roller Champions.

Outside of games, Ubisoft announced a Division movie was in the works starring Jake Gyllenhaal and bound for Netflix, and that it was teaming up with Rob McElhenney to make a sit-com about game development for Apple TV Plus, called Mythic Quest.

Finally Ubisoft announced it was creating its own paid subscription service for access to a library of its games, joining others including Microsoft, EA and Apple. Launching in September, Uplay+ will give access to more than 100 games on PC and Google's Stadia streaming service, and will include new release Ubisoft games and add-on content. In the US, it will be priced at $US14.99 per month.